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Hardware: Epicentre

Epicentre installation and troubleshooting

Set up the player over ethernet or Wi-Fi, work through the troubleshooting checklist, and find the full specifications and network requirements.

Whether you have just unboxed a player or you are chasing down a problem with an existing one, start here. Everything for the Epicentre is on this page.

The Epicentre is Activaire's plug-and-play media player. Connect it over a wired ethernet cable or over Wi-Fi, connect the audio out to your amplifier, then power it on. Music starts within about two minutes.

A wired ethernet connection is strongly recommended. Wi-Fi is supported, but it is noticeably less stable in a busy space with a lot of competing traffic.
Line drawing of the Epicentre player from above and its rear panel. Numbered callouts mark the Wi-Fi antenna (1B), the power button on the right side (4), and on the rear panel the audio plug into the headphone jack (2), the ethernet cable (1A) and the 5V DC power lead (3). The microphone jack is crossed out.
The numbered callouts match the steps below. Ethernet installs start at 1A, Wi-Fi installs start at 1B, then both continue through 2, 3 and 4. Tap the diagram to enlarge it.

Install using an ethernet cable

  1. Connect the ethernet network cable to the media player.
  2. Connect the audio cable to your receiver or amplifier. Use either a 3.5mm audio plug into the headphone jack, or an optical cable into the SPDIF jack.
  3. Connect the power adapter to the back of the player and to a working power outlet.
  4. The front blue light turns on automatically. If it does not, press the power button on the right side of the player. Wait up to two minutes for music to start playing.

Install using Wi-Fi

  1. Attach the external wireless antenna included in the box.
  2. Connect the audio cable to your receiver or amplifier: a 3.5mm audio plug into the headphone jack, or an optical cable into the SPDIF jack.
  3. Connect the power adapter to the back of the player and to a working power outlet.
  4. The front blue light turns on automatically. If it does not, press the power button on the right side and wait up to two minutes for music.
Do not connect the audio cable to the microphone jack. The headphone jack and the microphone jack sit next to each other, and this is the single most common reason a new install stays silent.

Troubleshooting

Work through these in order. Most problems are resolved by the first or the last step.

The same Epicentre player and rear panel, with callouts for the troubleshooting steps: the audio plug in the headphone jack (1), headphones plugged into the same jack to test (2), the power lead to unplug (4A) and the power button on the right side of the unit (4B). The microphone jack is crossed out.
Callouts here match the troubleshooting steps below. Tap the diagram to enlarge it.
  1. Check that the audio cord is in the headphone jack and not the microphone jack.
  2. Confirm the player is producing sound at all by plugging headphones directly into it.
  3. If you hear music on headphones but not in the space, the player is working and the problem is downstream. Check with your A/V team for a disconnected wire or an issue with the amplifier.
  4. If the player is not outputting music at all, restart it by unplugging the power cord.
  5. Wait 30 seconds, then reconnect the power cord and press the power button. Allow two to four minutes for music to resume.

Specifications

ComponentDetail
ProcessorQuad-Core Cortex A53 (64-bit)
GPUPenta-Core Mali-450
Memory2GB DDR3
Internal storage16GB eMMC 5.0 (MLC)
Wireless802.11ac 2 x 2 MIMO Dual-Band Wi-Fi (2.4GHz / 5.0GHz), Bluetooth 4.1
Audio outputHDMI 2.0, 3.5mm stereo jack, optical SPDIF
PeripheralsRJ-45 Gigabit Ethernet, Micro SD card reader, USB 2.0 x 3, OTG x 1, Kensington lock ready, microphone jack, headphone jack, IR receiver (remote included)
PowerDC 5V, 3A adapter included (CE, FCC certified)

Network requirements

Each player needs internet access and should use a dedicated ethernet cable. Wi-Fi is permitted but not recommended.

  • The player needs basic open network access.
  • All communication to our servers is secure over HTTPS (port 443).
  • A static IP can be assigned, but we recommend enabling DHCP on your router so the player auto-obtains a local IP address.

Advanced

For enterprise-level firewalls, have your network administrator review and allow the following:

PortProtocolPurposeDestination
53UDPDNS (routing)Any public DNS
123UDPNTP (time sync)pool.ntp.org*
80TCPNetwork health detectionverify.activaire.com*
443TCPUpdates and device administrationconnect.activaire.com (18.213.77.50), recovery.activaire.com (18.184.52.237), ds.activaire.com (18.211.34.40), ds3.activaire.com (52.1.176.93), auth.activaire.com*, artwork.activaire.com*, content.activaire.com*

An asterisk marks dynamic URLs that resolve to a pool of IP addresses based on region and response times. If your enterprise requires mandatory static endpoint IPs for all communication, contact [email protected].

Additional network settings, if not already enabled:

  1. Enable NAT.
  2. Disable load-balancers (to support web-socket connections).
  3. Disable TCP RST.
  4. Enable support for TLSv1.2.
Still not working? Contact support at [email protected] or call 718.599.2002, and tell us the site, what the front light is doing, and which steps you have already tried.
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